Alabama immigration law nets first arrest

Alabama's controversial new immigration law is less than a week old and officials say they've already made their first arrest for its violation.

A man identified as Yemeni national was arrested after he could produce no immigration papers. The 24-year-old, Mohamed Ali Muflahi, was taken into custody in Etowah County during a drug raid Friday.

After learning of the arrest, several Alabama state senators drafted a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder demanding the Justice Department drop its legal challenges to the state's immigration law.

The letter was set to be released to the media Tuesday morning, but the news conference was canceled for unspecified reasons.

It was canceled because the man's attorney produced his papers.

Etowah County officials said Monday an attorney for 24-year-old Mohamed Ali Muflahi later produced papers showing he had legal status.

Sheriff Todd Entrekin said it was the first immigration case to come up in Etowah County since the law took effect Thursday.

Amazing how they won't issue enough visas for Mexicans to come work here legally but I always read stories about people from Yemen or Somalia whom the government seems to give preferences to come here.

Wonder what the outcome of the drug raid was. Did the three Yemeni nationals (all here legally) have drugs they were intending to distribute? What impact will drug charges have on the one who was here on a work visa?

quote:Abdulah’s arrest came after a recent investigation into the illegal sale of bath salts, blamed in several deaths and declared illegal earlier this year.

During the investigation, packets of bath salts were discovered that were similar to the packets found when a man committed suicide in August, Savage said.

quote:After no other explosives were found inside, DEU continued its search and found a large amount of cash, what are believed to fake IDs and documents and a large amount of synthetic marijuana known as spice. Not all synthetic marijuana is illegal, but some versions of the leafy substance are. It was seized so it can be analyzed.

re: Alabama immigration law nets first arrest(Posted by Five0 on 10/4/11 at 2:46 pm to HonoraryCoonass)

If no individual claims the guns and drugs, then the courts decide when the case is presented. This is stupid to make the new law the focus of the arrest though. I'm sure the defense attorney is loving it. My shop is starting a whole block of in-house training starting on the 9th. It will be in conjunction with our District Attorney's office, which has consulted the State AG.

re: Alabama immigration law nets first arrest(Posted by Doctor Radical on 10/4/11 at 3:27 pm to BugAC)

quote:

How do you forget to mention its a fricking drug raid???

I provided two links, both of which stated it was a drug raid.

Plus, he was arrested for "obstruction of a government operation" not drugs (first link) and held because he didn't have his papers.

Additionally, it's clear this is an immigration issue to some people as noted in the second link:

quote:After learning of the arrest, several Alabama state senators drafted a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder demanding the Justice Department drop its legal challenges to the state's immigration law.

The letter was set to be released to the media Tuesday morning, but the news conference was cancelled for unspecified reasons. The letter requests that Holder launch an investigation into how a citizen of Yemen settled in Alabama without detection or documentation.

quote:Amazing how they won't issue enough visas for Mexicans to come work here legally

quote:An H-2A visa allows a foreign national entry into the U.S. for temporary or seasonal agricultural work. There are several requirements of the employer in regards to this visa. The H-2A temporary agricultural program establishes a means for agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring nonimmigrant foreign workers to the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature. Currently in the United States there are about 30,000 temporary agricultural workers under this visa program.

Remember this "unlimited" part when big farms bitch about not having enough immigrants, and crops "rotting in the fields."

quote:The H-2B visa nonimmigrant program permits employers to hire foreign workers to come temporarily to the U.S. and perform temporary nonagricultural services or labor on a one-time, seasonal, peakload or intermittent basis.

There are caps for the H-2B visas -- 33,000 for each half of the fiscal year, for a total of 66,000. This government link shows how many visas have been approved/issued during the past two years: LINK

As for "it's unfair and/or illegal to make legal immigrants carry papers," here's the law:

quote:(d) Every alien in the United States who has been registered and fingerprinted under the provisions of the Alien Registration Act, 1940, or under the provisions of this Act shall be issued a certificate of alien registration or an alien registration receipt card in such form and manner and at such time as shall be prescribed under regulations issued by the Attorney General.

(e) Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d). Any alien who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.